Don't be scared of 'Advanced Settings'

A recent article in the New York Times focused on the new, feature-poor gadgets that people are buying. I've written about all the features we have, but don't use.

I think it's a bad sign that people are regressing in their love of features. It is an unfortunate situation that ignorance about technology is acceptable. Our whole world is becoming much more reliant on technology every day. If you don't make a modest effort to keep up, you will only get yourself into more trouble later. Think about what would have happened if 50% of the population refused to learn how to use a car. And if 85% of those who learned to use a car didn't learn to use the headlights or the windshield wipers. We'd have a pretty bad situation on the roads.

The article stands in stark contrast to some great new Sprint commercials (embedded below). The CEO, Dan Hesse, promises that they will teach you how to use all the cool features of your new Sprint phone. Just come in to one of their stores. To me, this is a brilliant and wonderful marketing campaign. Sprint hasn't been doing well. Hopefully, this will help them turn it around.



The point is: Don't be scared of the advanced settings and features on your devices! Computers are amazing. They are also very flexible. Programmers go through a lot of stress to give the end user as much customization as possible. They work hard to also provide a clean, usable interface

People are so scared of technology. It's yours! There is no way to permanently ruin your computer by messing with the advanced settings. This is especially true in software that you have installed (as compared with the drivers that make your hardware work).

Make some changes. Tinker with the settings. You can change a lot of things that will make your computer (and cell phone) interactions more pleasant and productive. If you don't like the way a change worked out, change it back. You can always reset a phone or computer to factory settings if you get flustered.

A few ideas:

• In your Blackberry internet browser, set it to enable HTML tables. Many mobile websites will be much better. (You get there by pressing the Menu key and then going to options)
  
• In Microsoft Excel, set the default for a new workbook to only have one worksheet (Under Tools > Options)
  
• In Microsoft Outlook, set messages not to automatically mark as read. (Can you figure out where this setting might be?)

There are so many changes you can make to your computer and cell phone to make it easier to use, more productive. These devices are there to make your life easier. Learn to use them!

Trade you an iPhone for a Curve? Ummm....

Reader Justin writes in:

What bberry did you end up getting? I'm getting ready to start medical school this fall and I want to be smart phone equipped before I arrive. I'm pretty keen on the new iPhone, but I know that proper due diligence requires me to look into the RIM options. You seem pretty happy with yours based on your blog--if you had to choose again now, with the 3G iPhone about to roll out, would you choose similarly again?

Thanks for the question, Justin. I got the Blackberry Curve and I love it. I've actually done quite a bit of customizing since I got it to make it the best cell phone I can imagine having. So, I will NOT be getting the new iPhone, despite its improved 3G speeds.

Here's why:

First, the iPhone does not have a native instant messaging app. I use Google Talk for the Blackberry constantly. I LOVE being on IM all the time, its infinitely better than text messaging (I talked about it here). So, even though Google Talk signs out sometimes when you lose reception (e.g., the subway), I still have Blackberry's proprietary BBM system that fills the gap and delivers messages when you get back in range. Seriously, I think this is the deal breaker for me. Not only does the iPhone not have mobile IM, it doesn't even come with text messages anymore, so the price becomes substantially more expensive while the usability actually decreases on my favorite feature. I know that Google Talk just launched an iPhone version, but I don't hear great things about it.
Reviews of iPhone Gtalk at VentureBeat, TechCrunch, GigaOM, CNet and Lifehacker

Second, the mobile internet. I thought this would be the game changer for the iPhone. However, the pages I use most frequently when I'm on the move are typically formatted for my blackberry (ESPN, Google Reader). I also just downloaded Opera Mini, which brings the FULL browsing experience to the blackberry (and is completely free). The navigation is not as cool as the iPhone finger flick, but the keypad and ball work just fine for moving and zooming. Opera Mini has a feature of saving pages down to the MicroSD card that I've installed. That makes offline reading possible, and opens the potential for me to read my RSS feeds on the subway (which is something I really want). Granted, it's still EDGE network, but I can deal with it (and frankly 3G still doesn't seem like it will be as fast as my home wifi connection, so it may be a bit overhyped). Also, I've grown to distrust Apple with their 'we control the ecosystem approach' and don't think they'll really let people put a web browser that is not Safari on their iPhones. And, Mozilla is working on a mobile browser that could be pretty sweet.

Third, the first reviews for the 3G iPhone indicate that it has poor battery life. That's part of the reason Apple does not let apps run in the background. The battery on my Curve lasts for almost 2 days of normal use (from morning day 1 to night day 2), which includes much mobile web browsing and instant messaging, a little bit of talking and taking a few pictures. The iPhone battery is said to last 10 hours with the 3G turned off and only 5 hours with it on! To me, that is in no way going to get it done.
Reviews of iPhone 3G from David Pogue, NYTimes and Walt Mossberg, WSJ

Fourth, the big benefit of the new iPhone is the app store, which is just launching and available to old iPhone owners as well. And, Blackberry has had developers writing apps for it for some time already (like Opera Mini or Google Maps). Also, there are a few other programs that I have tried to varying degrees of success. I wrote about voice enabled services, and I really want to like them, but they don't really have use for me since I basically never drive. GigaOM reviews Vlingo.

I really like having a physical keyboard. I haven't used the iPhone keyboard that much, but I do have some difficulty with it (though I'm sure I could get used to it). What makes me nervous about it is that in my effort to type more quickly, as I move my fingers to type, I would hit every key as though I dragged them along the keyboard. I haven't tried this, so I don't know, but I could imagine that I would have to lift my fingers a bit more and that would annoy me (though this has to be slightly insane on my part). Also, there is NO CUT AND PASTE on the iPhone. That amazes me as an oversight. I use cut and paste all over the place with my phone for emails, IM, text messages and adding contact information (so I don't constantly have to ask for people's addresses).

Admittedly, I have never had an iPhone, so I haven't been able to set it up to match what I want like I have with my Blackberry. I've set up the smart keys on the side of my Curve to launch the programs that I use most often and I've got my icons arranged in order of use. I use email a lot, so it goes first, etc. I feel like the blackberry has a lot of customization possibilities where the iPhone may not. The iPhone may get more options with new software from the app store, etc, but those will likely cost real money. But, I have to admit that the iPhone apps for jailbroken phones that are already out there seem pretty sweet (though I haven't met anyone who took the risk of jailbreaking).

All of this said, I may consider picking up a used iPhone 1.0 for cheap if the price is sweet enough (circa $50), though I mostly want to use it to remote control my computer. But, I have to admit, I think the games look really cool (sorry, brickbreaker).

Justin, I hope that answers your questions. And, if you decide on the iPhone anyways, I definitely want to hear all about it.

New Features

Friends, you may have noticed that I've added a few more items to my sidebar. One is a quick view of my shared items on Google Reader (which I love, but you knew that already). I also added two things related to del.icio.us (which I praised here). The first is a sidebar item with my most recently bookmarked items. The second is an RSS feed to my most recently posted del.icio.us items. I thought this feed would be interesting for two reasons. First, it lets me easily share items with everyone regardless of which feed reader you use (and I have to assume that no one is using Google Reader because I have no new friends). Also, I think that I read a lot of interesting stuff and rather than email it out to people and feel bad about sending around a bunch of stuff no one is interested in, I can have this feed where people can choose how and when to consume it. I think you might be able to create your own feed from my bookmarks based on the tags by adding /'tag' to the end, but I'm not sure.

Hope you take advantage, and if you set yourself up with a del.icio.us account, let me know so that I can get into your network.

Awesome free service

Grand Central is a service (recently purchased by Google) that takes telephones to the next level. Among the features:

1. Custom caller groups
2. Different voicemail messages for each caller group
3. Different ring back tones for each caller group
   
4. Web call button (at top left on my blog)
5. Ring all your phones from one number
   
6. Switch phones in the middle of a conversation

I just recently signed up for this service, and I'll report back in about 2 weeks about how useful it is, once I get into more of the details/experience. My first impression is that its really cool, but I still need to set it up for my office line, import contacts, set up groups, etc.

I'm excited. You can leave me a voicemail from my blog now, if you want. Convergence!

What's your address again?

I've noticed that cell phone manufacturers put more and more features into their cell phones. I've also noticed that most people do maybe 5 things with their phones:

1. Make phone calls (duh)
2. Text message / email (smartphones)
3. Take a picture with the camera
4. Play a game (like brick breaker)
   
5. Check google maps/information (smartphones)

How many times have you been going to a friend's apartment and you can't remember the address? Happens to me all the time. I'm willing to bet that most people would take out their phone and call their friend to ask for the address. Then, when they get there, they will probably have forgotten the apartment number, so they'll go to the well again for that. It makes no sense! Why wouldn't you just put your friend's address into your phone. Every phone has an option for memos on your contacts where you can put the address. I suggest that we start using it.

Next, how often have you taken pictures with your phone? Probably pretty often. How often have you ever done anything with them? Probably almost never. I once took this picture of a random guy on the subway late at night. I never showed it to anyone, but he was a crazy person! He was white, with cornrows, a bluetooth headset (on the subway!) and a shiny, shiny shirt that may have been urban camoflauge. You know what, here's what he looked like (click for larger image):


Granted, I'm a geek and I absolutely own brickbreaker already. But, I'm going to make an effort to use more of the other features on my phone. Like the tip calculator. That's probably pretty useful. I wonder if it'll give me a shock when I cheap out.